The present invention relates to an air conditioner which is hung on a wall in a room. More particularly, it relates to a wind direction adjusting mechanism which appropriately changes over the wind direction of air blown from an air outlet at the cooling time and the heating time.
Cold air accumulates on the floor side, and warm air accumulates on the ceiling side. Therefore, an air conditioner should change over the wind direction of blown air at the cooling time and the heating time to provide a comfortable temperature environment in a room. For this purpose, the air conditioner is provided with wind direction adjusting means at an air outlet. One example of the prior art will be described with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B.
An air conditioner shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B is a wall-mounted one that is intended to be mounted at a high position on a wall in a room, for example, at a position near a ceiling. This air conditioner has a base plate 1 which is fixed on the wall surface with screws or the like and a housing including an exterior panel 2 supported on the base plate 1. Although not shown definitely in FIG. 8 because it is a sectional view, the base plate 1 is provided with a pair of right and left side plates bent at a right angle from both ends of the base plate 1.
In this example of prior art, the exterior panel 2 includes an upper panel 21 which is increasingly curved downward to the front (in the direction away from the wall) and a lower panel 22 increasingly curved upward to the front, and the front ends of these panels are connected to each other.
The upper panel 21 is formed with an air inlet 210 in a grille form, and the lower panel 22 is formed with an air outlet 220. A heat exchanger 3 and an air blower 4 consisting of a cross-flow fan are arranged in an air passage connecting the air inlet 210 to the air outlet 220 in the housing.
In this example of prior art, the heat exchanger 3 includes a front-side heat exchanger 31 and a rear-side heat exchanger 32, which are connected to each other in a xcex9 shape, and dip plates 33 and 34 are disposed under these heat exchangers 31 and 32, respectively. The heat exchanger 3 and the air blower 4 are supported between the side plates of the base plate 1.
In the air outlet 220, there are provided a plurality of transverse wind deflectors 230 for changing the wind direction in the transverse direction and a first vertical wind deflector 231 and a second vertical wind deflector 232 for changing the wind direction in the vertical direction. The vertical wind deflectors 231 and 232 are turned around support shafts 231a and 232a, respectively, which are provided almost horizontally in the air outlet 220. The wind deflectors 230, 231 and 232 are rotatably reciprocated by a motor, not shown.
An air passage extending from the air blower 4 to the air outlet 220 is formed by the bottom surface of the drip plate 33 arranged on the front side and a back-side wind introducing surface 101 provided on the base plate side.
At the rear edge of the air outlet 220 connecting with the back-side wind introducing surface 101, a diffuser 233 for changing the opening area of air outlet is provided so as to be capable of being opened and closed. The diffuser 233 is rotatably reciprocated around a support shaft 233a arranged in parallel with the support shaft 231a, and is provided with a motor 233b serving as a driving source.
At the time of cooling operation, as shown in FIG. 8A, the first and second vertical wind deflectors 231 and 232 and the diffuser 233 are at a substantially horizontal position, so that a cold air flow A which has been cooled in the heat exchanger 3 and blown from the air blower 4 is blown out in the substantially horizontal direction through the air outlet 220 toward the ceiling surface side in the room.
At the time of heating operation, as shown in FIG. 8B, the first and second vertical wind deflectors 231 and 232 and the diffuser 233 are turned in the counterclockwise direction, so that a warm air flow B which has been warmed in the heat exchanger 3 and blown from the air blower 4 is blown out in the slantwise downward direction or in the substantially vertical downward direction through the air outlet 220 toward the floor surface side in the room.
Thus, the wind direction is changed at the cooling operation time and the heating operation time. Nevertheless, the prior art suffers from a problem as described below at the time of heating operation.
At the time of heating operation, the first and second vertical wind deflectors 231 and 232 are opened as shown in FIG. 8B, but a gap is formed between the bottom surface of the drip plate 33 forming the air passage and the second vertical wind deflector 232. Therefore, some of the warm air flow B passes through this gap and leaks to the ceiling surface side as indicated by arrow mark Bxe2x80x2, so that the heating efficiency decreases accordingly.
Thereupon, an object of the present invention is to blow almost all of a warm air flow toward a floor surface without leakage on the ceiling surface side at the heating operation time in an air conditioner having a vertical wind deflector in an air outlet.
To solve the above problem, the present invention provides an air conditioner having a housing including a base plate fixed to a wall in a room and an exterior panel supported on the base plate, the exterior panel being provided with an air inlet on the upper surface side thereof and an air outlet on the lower surface side thereof, and the housing containing a heat exchanger and an air blower in an air passage connecting the air inlet to the air outlet, in which on the front side of the air outlet, a recess with a predetermined depth, which is depressed toward the inside of the housing, is formed so as to connect with the air passage, and in the recess, a vertical wind deflector which turns in the up-and-down direction around a horizontal rotating shaft and a support frame which supports the vertical wind deflector are arranged; the support frame has a rotating shaft on the rear edge side close to the air passage, and is pivotally supported by a side plate of the recess via the rotating shaft, and a front edge of the support frame is urged toward the recess by a first spring; in a state in which the vertical wind deflector is arranged on the lower surface side of the support frame, the front edge thereof is rotatably supported on the front edge side of the support frame via predetermined pivotally supporting means, and a rear edge of the vertical wind deflector is urged toward the lower surface side of the support frame by a second spring; the support frame is provided with driving force transmitting means including an input shaft, which is connected to a motor mounted on the side plate side of the recess and is rotatably inserted in the rotating shaft, and an output shaft, which is connected to the input shaft via predetermined mechanical connecting means and gives a rotation driving force of the motor to the vertical wind deflector; at the cooling operation time, the motor is rotated in the direction against the urging force of the first spring to open the front edge sides of the support frame and the vertical wind deflector integrally; and at the heating operation time, the motor is rotated in the direction against the urging force of the second spring to open only the front edge side of the vertical wind deflector.
Also, the present invention embraces a mode, as another feature, such that a diffuser is provided at a rear edge of the air outlet so as to be capable of being opened and closed, and the diffuser is provided with a transverse wind deflector.
Further, the present invention embraces a mode such that the vertical wind deflector is a second vertical wind deflector, and a first vertical wind deflector is disposed on the rear edge side in the air outlet so as to be adjacent to the second vertical wind deflector. In this case, the longitudinal width of the second vertical wind deflector is preferably larger than the longitudinal width of the first vertical wind deflector.
Also, another feature of the present invention is that the upper end surface of the recess is formed into an arcuate shape along the turning path of the front edge side of the vertical wind deflector.
In the present invention, as the mechanical connecting means connecting to the input shaft and the output shaft, an odd number of intermediate gears or a connection belt is preferably used.
Also, the present invention embraces a mode such that the driving force transmitting means is housed in a gear box consisting of a box body in which a side face formed integrally with the support frame is open and a lid body installed detachably to the opening of the box body.
From the viewpoint of design, it is preferable that in the operation stop state, the vertical wind deflector be included in a part of outside shape of the housing so as to hide the recess.